Capture via firewire

[123fish123]

I just got my first digital camcorder and am WAY behind the times.

I could capture my old analog camcorder with analog inputs via my ATI all-in-wonder card.

This new-fangled contraption has firewire.

My PC does have a firewire input....but does anyone know what software you can used to capture from a firwire input? My ATI software will not allow me as the firewire is not part of that card...so how do I get it from the camcorder into the PC?

Sorry for the dumb-ass newbie question but this is a new one for me.

[littlelmo]

I use windv to capture to my hard drive. It is a good program and it is free. You can find it in the tool section for download.

[Skith]

I have used DVIO with good success. It is very simple, and free. Check the tools section

[daamon]

WinDV - Awesome...

[painkiller]

You can find a number of software tools to fit the bill - if you havn't yet tried the TOOLS submenu somewhere on the left hand side of the primary page of this website.

However, since others have given you a few idenities of some fine free software (earlier messages), I'd like to offer my opinion on the best combination I was willing to pay for - It's called Edit Studio from Pure Motion Software (in the U.K.).

It's an all-on-one s/w that lets you capture full resolution video (720x480, just as the freebies do) through that firewire connection - but also lets you edit that video afterwards (saved in its digital video (DV) format - in your digicam and as transferred into your pc onto the harddrive).

Simply, it means you don't have to encode (transform) the video file format to another format (losing resolution in the process) just to get to the point of editing the video (trimming parts, cutting commercials, whatnot).

With the freebies, chances are you will need more s/w that you'd be hunting for in order to do the extra jobs of editing and then producing your final form of the video.

Okay, have fun.

[daamon]

Simply, it means you don't have to encode (transform) the video file format to another format (losing resolution in the process) just to get to the point of editing the video (trimming parts, cutting commercials, whatnot).

I'd have to say that this is misleading - there are plenty of good tools (freeware and otherwise) that work with DV AVI and either do basic editing (trimming parts, cutting commercials etc.) as well as more advanced editing (like transitions and effects) without re-encoding the AVI file first.

Here's just some examples:

Picked from here (Advanced Video Editors in the "Tools" section, sorted by cheapest first)...

1. VirtualDub
2. Wax 2 - Sounds good. Freeware.
3. Zwei-stein - Sounds interesting. Freeware.
4. AviTricks - Sounds good. Freeware.
5. Video Edit Magic - Sounds like it might suit. US$70
6. Adobe Premiere Elements - Could be good starting point if you want to go on to the full monty Adobe Premiere (or similar) at a later date. US$100
7. Ulead Videostudio